Holcomb Details Next Steps For Volkswagen Settlement Funds

(photo courtesy Indiana Economic Development Corp.)

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Governor Eric Holcomb has signed an executive order creating a committee to determine the next steps for distributing Indiana’s share of the Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust Fund. The state received $40.9 million as part of the automaker’s settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice for violating the federal Clean Air Act.

The executive order also names the Indiana Department of Environmental Management as the beneficiary of and the administrative agency for the trust fund. The 11-member Indiana Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Trust Fund Committee is being tasked with "establish appropriate procedures for distributing the funds and working with IDEM to develop a plan for how the funds should be used, which must be made available for public comment."

The committee members include:

• Beverly Gard, former Indiana state senator
• Kay Nelson, director of environmental affairs, Northwest Indiana Forum
• Bill Beranek, president, Indiana Environmental Institute
• Reggie Jones, central Indiana business owner and philanthropist
• Brent Dickson, retired Indiana Supreme Court Justice; adjunct at the Indiana University McKinney School of Law
• Joe McGuinness, commissioner, Indiana Department of Transportation
• Tristan Vance, director, Indiana Office of Energy Development
• Danielle McGrath, vice president, Indiana Economic Development Corporation
• Melissa Rekeweg, interim director, Indiana State Department of Agriculture
• Bruno Pigott, commissioner, Indiana Department of Environmental Management
• Jody Peacock, vice president, Ports of Indiana

The trust fund was established in an effort to offset the pollution created by Volkswagen’s violation of the Clean Air Act. Holcomb’s executive order tasks the IDEM with making sure Indiana’s portion of the trust fund is used to achieve that goal.